Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Photovoltaic energy, also referred to as solar power, is a promising aspect of our green-energy future. Photovoltaic arrays have been deployed with varying degrees of success in a variety of settings, including large scale utility applications, home roof top applications, satellites, and a large number of lightweight device applications. As photovoltaic technologies continue to improve, the role of photovoltaic energy in our daily lives will likely continue to expand.
While the use of photovoltaic energy to power electric vehicles has a long history, existing implementations remain experimental and have not achieved widespread commercial acceptance. Contestants in solar powered car races such as the World Solar Challenge in Australia, and the American Solar Challenge in the United States and Canada, have experimented with various approaches and technologies with the goal of using only solar power to race several thousand miles. The present disclosure appreciates that cost-effective commercial systems for powering or partially powering electric and/or hybrid electric vehicles with significant amounts of photovoltaic energy have not yet been reasonably achieved.